Pirate Ships - Mega Bloks Conversions

In my first attempt to give back a little to the Boring Forum I will share a few of the converted ships I am nearly done with and list a few observations and pointers from each. Special thanks to Cianty for getting me hooked, his shipbuilding tutorial is well worth the read if you are interested in this sort of thing. I started these guys between Nov 2010 and did a modest push in early May...all still wip but here are a few of the more developed.

#1 - Black Pearl w/o masts - this was my first one. I did a solid basswood deck and stained it. Quick Paint- no extra effects yet. Masts removed for the pictures.






My first Stormstalker Conversion - has a forecastle. Effects have been added, not painted yet. I did the same solid decking to begin with but didnt like how it turned out. I switched to swizzle stick planking and like the results much better, and it does not take all too much time.










You will see some lanterns I cast from resin and a few extra props that will eventually make their way to the pearl. Minis added for scale.

I have a few more to display but have to run out to a meeting so more to follow shortly!

The Ladies look LOVELY! The pieces I've seen created with the Mega Blocks are REALLY IMPRESSIVE...these are no exception. Keep up the GREAT WORK!

This is the second Stormstalker conversion- kept it flat as more a river barge concept. Again with the swizzle stick planking and extra props.






And now the Junk - used wooden thread spools for a winch on front and a thing midships (dont know what they are called.) I do like how the planking colored in an exotic way from the stain. This one is mostly a cargo/fishing type vessel as geared.

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Now what I noticed building these guys out....

I bought these all on ebay for about $20 USD apiece. The Junk was pure luck as those are the hardest to find. Paid $30 for that one but took about 3 months to find. They just do not show up that often. I is easily possible to get multiple ships in a lot sale.

Black Pearl is my favorite but has the least amount of customization options due to the deck layout. It also takes the most time for the decking since there are a few different levels on the Stern castle. I superglued everything but the aft cabin, which can be removed for game play.

Junk just looks cool and is the smallest ship - also hardest to find on ebay. Easy to deck.

Stormstalker has the most customization options as you can see with the 2 different verisons I made. It does have a wheelie-gig thing on the mid bow which is covered by the forecastle in one ship and cut off for the flat bow of the second ship. Getting that wheelie-thing removed was a bit challenging. I really dislike the shark figure heads however, will most likely take a dremel to them and greenstuff something a bit better.

I also cheated a bit by just using 3mm plasticard over the nubbies everyone complains about cutting off. I did spend a few minutes trimming nubbies for just the top layers. This leaves about 1/16th inch gap around the decking which can be seen by close observation but my goal was for gameplay rather than super detail. Soaking balsa strips (rather than basswood strips) easily solves the gap problems.

Finally- decking. Solid balsa or Basswood (or the planked plasticard) vs Planking with swizzles. Have to be much more precise than I am with a single deck piece because you get seams. Wood filler does have some use but doesnt stain the same as the wood so may be blotchy. Also- superglue spots will not take paint quite the same way.

The only ship I primed before painting was the junk. I used cheapo $.88 acrylic paints from craft store and made them very thin- almost a wash. Most of the really weathered wood I see is opposite from drybrush - meaining darker on top and weathered lighter in the cracks. The ink-like paint seemed close enough for government work though again, wont win any prizes anywhere.

Sail cloth hasnt been installed yet but I have a natural cotton pillowcase which I will be soaking in a PVA / Water wash to stiffen up. Has all the right texture, being somewhat loosely threads with nobbie bits here and there.

I did use a little GW paint to dry brush salt build ups here and there as well as inks to add a bit of extra weathering details in the most likely spots to indicate water runoff.

Woah, great looking ships! I really like them

Are they based on this one?

Eliazar wrote:

Woah, great looking ships! I really like them

Are they based on this one?

Yes- that is one of the Stormstalkers - though called a different name. Has alot of deck space to play around with. They also have wheels on the bottom unlike the other mega bloks ships - dont know how much that matters.

Here is what I used to customize:

1- nippers to remove some of the lego bumpy pegs.
2- plasticard sheet 3mm - very thin and flimsy but gives a smooth surface for glue-ing
3- left over foam pieces to make main deck structure. PVA glue correct pieces into place to build up the bottom parts ofr an even deck. Then PVA glue the plasticard sheet on top.
4- Scissors
5- a handful or two of swizzle sticks cut into vary-ing lengths. Make sure they are the straight ones and not warped. I usually cut a bunch of 3 inch - 6 inch lengths before hand and start piecing them onto the plasticard first. Varying the lengths of each set for an uneven planked look.
6- superglue
7- PVA glue or white glue

You will want to dis-assemble the mega bloks ship you select to superglue the pieces you want together so that it isnt flimsy and losing parts all the time. Most ships will allow you to leave the sterncastle unglued so you have a removable section if you like.

With your planking- Start from the middle with a rough out of the planks and when you have each section roughed out- a few drops of superglue for each plank and hold for about 5 sec - then move to the next ones. For custom fits and triangle-shaped pieces just tweak the swizzle planks with your scissors.

Uneven edges can be solved by a strip of balsa or swizzle in front of the edges for a cleaner look.

Your first one may take an hour or two when you have everything ready depending on how much of a stickler for detail you are. When I did the junk (my fourth ship) It took about 45 min to deck.

Cool, thanks for the tips! I already started building a ship from styrene, but I think I'll give the plastic ones a try, they're cheap enough

On the uneven plank look: I went for one with my first ship, too, but then started to wonder if ships would be unevenly planked, since the planks need to be nailed to something and I don't know if there was a limitless amount of understructure on a real ship. Not that it matters much, anyway

Thanks for posting your conversions. I love seeing what others have come up with for those ships. I was disappointed that no new megabloks Pirates of the Caribbean ships were made for the last movie.

I really like what you have done with the Stormstalker. Giving her a forecastle is a great idea that I haven't seen before.

I like that! I'm doing the same with my old Lego Wikings ship. I'm only in the process on making the bottom deck curently, though. Your looks excellent!

Theo

nice looking ships, i got a large mega blocks ship knocking about somewhere, may have to convert it now@
:0)

Great ships and great tips for converting them.
Just got a Stormstalker delivered from ebay for £10 based on this thread.

Thanks for sharing.

I have a word of warning:

When buying one of these for its model making uses, dont let your 6 year old son see it.

Otherwise, you lose it forever!

qboid wrote:

I have a word of warning:

When buying one of these for its model making uses, dont let your 6 year old son see it.

Otherwise, you lose it forever!

Arrrrrrrrr!

hope you have better luck with the next one!

qboid wrote:

I have a word of warning:

When buying one of these for its model making uses, dont let your 6 year old son see it.

Otherwise, you lose it forever!

Buy two at the same time....

Thats because pirates are cool

if anyone interested i have one of these ships on ebay at the moment 280817545391